Confidante of disgraced South Korean president sentenced to 20 years, fined $17M

The sentence for Choi Soon-sil bodes ill for former leader Park Geun-hye, who is still on trial and facing almost identical corruption charges

Choi Soon-sil (center), confidante of South Korea's former President Park Geun-hye, is escorted to a prison bus at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 13, 2018. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by SeongJoon Cho.SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg

TOKYO — The confidante of former South Korean president Park Geun-hye has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined almost $17 million USD for her role in a huge corruption scandal that led to Park’s impeachment and continues to roil the country.

The heavy sentence handed down to Choi Soon-sil bodes ill for Park, who is still on trial and is facing almost exactly the same charges.

Choi took advantage of her “long-running, private ties” with Park, Judge Kim Se-yoon said, to force big South Korean companies such as Samsung to give donations to two foundations, which were meant to be used to encourage sports but were instead slush funds for Park and Choi.

“In light of the size of material gains obtained by the accused, the severe confusion in state affairs caused by her crimes and the people’s sense of frustration, the guilt of the accused is very heavy,” the judge said, according to reports from inside the packed courtroom.

In light of the size of material gains obtained by the accused, the severe confusion in state affairs caused by her crimes and the people's sense of frustration, the guilt of the accused is very heavy

Choi, 62, has been friends with Park for about four decades. Her father, a kind of shaman-fortune teller, was close to Park’s father, former strongman president Park Chung-hee.

After Park’s mother was assassinated in 1974, the shaman reportedly began conveying to Park messages from her mother in the afterlife. This led American diplomats in Seoul to call him a “Korean Rasputin,” according to a leaked U.S. State Department cable.

When the shaman died in 1994, Choi Soon-sil apparently took over his role of providing spiritual advice to Park, whose father was shot by his own spy chief in 1979 and who was estranged from her siblings.

This file photo taken on January 16, 2017 shows Choi Soon-sil (centre), the long-time friend of President Park Geun-hye, arriving for hearing arguments for South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul.KIM HONG-JI/AFP/Getty Images

Their relationship only became closer as Park rose through the political ranks.

Once Park became president, Choi — who held no official role or security clearance — was involved in everything from the presidential wardrobe to international policy speeches.

All the while, Choi was allegedly seeking “donations” for her foundations from the big companies that form the backbone of South Korea’s economy and continue to have cozy ties to government authorities.

Park’s presidential Blue House was the “main agent” in setting up bogus foundations to accept donations from big businesses, the court said.

The court found that Choi had forced about 50 businesses to pay a total of $71 million to the two foundations.

Prosecutors had sought a 25 year prison sentence and a $109 million fine.

The sentence handed down to her was less than that. But lawyers for Choi, who had pleaded not guilty, said it was so heavy it was “bordering on cruelty.” They immediately said they would appeal.

Choi did not betray any emotion after the sentence was read out, and left courtroom quietly, according to media reports.

Samsung, South Korea’s largest conglomerate, was the most involved in Choi’s scheme.

Lee Jae-yong, the de facto head of Samsung, was last July convicted of paying bribes totalling $6.4 million to Choi, embezzling corporate money to fund the bribes, then lying about it. He and other Samsung executives were accused of promising to pay a further $30 million more in bribes to Choi.

In this March 30, 2017 file photo, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrives at the Seoul Central District Court for hearing on a prosecutors’ request for her arrest for corruption, in Seoul, South Korea.Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo

He was sentenced to five years in prison but last week, a South Korean appeals court halved the sentence and suspended it, allowing Lee to walk free only six months into his jail time.

His charges related to allegations that Samsung had paid money to Choi on the understanding she would make sure the conglomerate won regulatory approval for a huge merger that was crucial for the Lee family keeping control of the group.

Despite Lee’s release last week, others involved in Choi’s scheme have been sentenced to time behind bars.

Shin Dong-bin, the chairman of Lotte Corporation, South Korea’s fifth largest conglomerate, was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in jail on Tuesday. He was convicted of paying about $7 million to Choi’s foundations to win approval for a license Lotte’s duty free business.

“The situation was unexpected and we are in despair,” Lotte said in a statement. “We respect the court’s decision, but the result is very regrettable.”

An Chong-bum, who was senior presidential secretary for policy coordination, was sentenced to six years and fined $92,000 fine for his involvement in Choi’s influence peddling scheme.

All eyes are now on Park, the disgraced former president.

After months of huge protests at the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, Park was impeached in March last year. She was arrested soon after and has been in detention ever since, complaining vigorously about the conditions in her prison cell.

She is now on trial on a slew of charges including bribery, coercion and abuse of power. But she has continued to profess her innocence and refused to attend her own trial, saying she is the victim of “political revenge.”

Will it be a hot war with protest and acrimony, like Uber vs. taxis? Or is the outcome inevitably foretold, no matter what, as in Netflix vs. Blockbuster?

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